Please Help!!!!! I recently discovered something disturbing in my son's room. I've had his bed up against an exterior wall since we moved in about a year ago. The wall has always been cold at night and I figured it was because it was right next to a single pane window.

This morning, I pulled a drawer out from underneath his bed and discovered mold underneath the drawer and on the carpet. However there was no sign of moisture. (carpet was completely dry) I did noticed a draft coming in a little hole I made in the wall when I was remodeling.

I'm pretty the mold is from condensation underneath the drawers under his bed.

I decided to take out some of the dry wall to see where the draft may be coming from and if there was any water intrusion.

The drywall was brittle and came out easily, so I knew there was a problem. The bigger the hole got, the more apparent it was that there was a draft behind the wall. The draft smelled earthy and "mildewy". I found a dead rat, with leaves and snail shells.

My house has wood paneling with decorative brick veneer, or at least I thought it was veneer. When I looked through the wall, I noticed the brick on the exterior side did not have any kind of sheathing against the house. I could see the brick and mortar from the interior of the house. Is this typical construction? Or did the original build skip a few steps when building this house?

Also, I noticed that the brick did not go right up to the 2 x 4 studs. There was a 2" gap between the stud the and brick. This brick runs along the entire front side of my house and I realized that it was basically a hollow cavity perfect for vermin and bugs to dwell. Shouldn't the brick go up against the studs?

Can someone tell me if what I found is odd? Is it proper to install brick and mortar without any kind of sheathing?

Also, I've never been keen on the bricks. When I remodel I'd like to remove them and place cylinder blocks. Can someone please tell me what the proper way to do this is? (e.g. type of sheathing to use, type of weep)

What is that under the brick?? Looks like stone, as in the brick only has a stone base, not footer??? The brick work looks nice, well done, it should have a footer, there should be sheathing with a moisture barrier between brick and sheathing, an air space between sheathing and brick, and that interior space should be insulated. There is also nothing to keep moisture away from the wall plate. That will likely have rot if it does not already.

I just noticed you are in the warm southwest, so there might not be a need for much of a footer, but you need the rest.